


Rope

by selftaughthuman



Series: Exceptions [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Bondage, F/F, Rope Bondage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:55:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28595814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/selftaughthuman/pseuds/selftaughthuman
Summary: Set within "Exceptions" timeline. It is not necessary to read that story first or at all.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato
Series: Exceptions [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095383
Kudos: 55





	Rope

**Author's Note:**

> Set within "Exceptions" timeline. It is not necessary to read that story first or at all.

**Rope.**

She knows Asami’s been practicing, reading, researching in preparation for tonight, that her girlfriend’s interest in this arose before they were ever together. The buildup has been relentless, and Korra just can’t wrap her head around why using rope is so singular to her lover. In her mind the distinction is negligible. She’s excited about it because Asami is excited about it. That it is prettier, rope bondage, she would acknowledge, but to Korra being tied up is being tied up and Asami has tied her up in all sorts of ways at this point. If it were solely up to her, they would’ve jumped right in. Asami is not amenable to a spontaneous approach and this time there is absolutely no compromise. It’s not like her girlfriend, who is by no means a pushover but tends to indulge her at least to some degree. Korra is used to being listened to, to Asami caving just a little, meeting her in the middle…but on this, her lover will not budge. The woman is adamant about forethought and groundwork and plans where this is concerned.

When Korra snapped a few weeks ago, not understanding why they couldn’t just try, she nearly sank into a panic attack when her girlfriend left the room without a word. Initially, she believed they were fighting, that in her flare of temper she’d hurt Asami, closed her off, but none of those turned out to be correct. Her girlfriend returned with a collection of racy photos Korra had no idea she possessed; some sketches done with neatly scrawled notes. The illustrated intention reframed things, but not completely…not enough for Korra to fully understand. 

She could admit the pictures stuck in her brain. Putting her finger on why the intricacy of it led to heightened interest was difficult until she heard Asami call the process _‘rigging’_. Her lover using that word…like the intent was to create something with her body…something that required knowledge, technique, and precision…it made her intensely curious. Descriptions and thoughts and concerns were revealed to her from behind a woefully distracting aura. Korra has internally dubbed it ‘confident smart-girl energy’. It pours off her girlfriend whenever they play this way, whenever they plan, the entire time they spoke that night with Asami’s slender fingers pointing to some portion of a photo or drawing. She could barely pay attention because besides being head-over-heels to begin with, Korra is a mess for that particular energy.

She knows that rope belongs to another side of sex for her girlfriend, one where higher mind is as much a part of their intimacy as body. Outside of the very satisfactory, but tamer facets of their love life, Asami has cravings that live on sexual tangents. Power dynamics and control and bondage; they are much more complicated in their operation than anything which inhabits Korra's fantasy life. They require structure and attitude and choreography. She thinks of it as something like ‘sexual math’. It is more attractive to her than the label would suggest because she likes watching Asami work and this is deliciously enjoyable work to watch, to be drawn into. Korra is a simple girl by comparison, very in her own body and instinct-driven and moment-to-moment. She does appreciate the orchestration though, how it meshes with her innate reactivity and responsiveness. Asami makes plans and Korra has one role really, follow her lover down whatever path she’s set for them. 

So here they are in the giant living room of Asami’s giant house in front of a giant fireplace. Korra is sitting on the floor cross-legged in her usual pants and a wrap, most of her torso bare. Asami has requested she put her hair up. It’s grown back out quite a bit, and she assumes the ask is so that it doesn’t get caught during the tying. And she’s waiting for things to start, for her introductory lesson on sexual math with ropes.

She felt some disappointment when her lover told her they wouldn’t be taking their clothes off fully, not the first time. Korra is trying to keep an open mind and she doesn’t want to rush Asami if that’s what her girlfriend needs. She knows from the look on her lover’s face that there will be no compromise on that either anyway. Until such a directive was given, Korra believed the ultimate point was to tie her up and have sex while she was bound. She doesn’t argue that point now because obviously, she was wrong. 

This returns her to the notion she is misunderstanding a vital something about either rope bondage itself or Asami’s objectives. She dwells over the fact that those flattering sketches of her showed her body tied and naked …that they feel like a tease now. Korra is being impatient; she’s aware of it. Clothes were a mandate for this first time only and she’s pouting over it. It’s fully possible that a proportion of that is due to frustration with herself, that she just does not get this. But she does want to, and she wants to give Asami the space to bring desires to life.

Korra wants to be good for Asami. It is a recurring thought that has strengthened with each exploration of the darker corners of her girlfriend’s pleasure. Korra knows she should probably find the words to tell Asami as much, that it would be welcomed, but she has to find her bravery first.

What this will bring, sensation or experience-wise, Korra is unsure but she is, as always seduced by this mood on her lover. Would do this for that reason alone. All she knows about this evening is that Asami intends to tie her in a few different positions with both of them on the floor, that she is supposed to alert her girlfriend should there be finger tingling or intolerable discomfort. She wonders if this rope situation could be purely aesthetic, like a sort of erotic art with no actual sex involved. It is possible she mistakes Asami’s purpose to that extent, but it seems unlikely, and there are no answers right now. She’ll have to wait and see.

Korra listens to the fire pop and snap while she sits there, grasping at distractions that could ease the torture of patience. 

She finds it in the sound of bare feet on a hardwood floor and her head turns. Asami is dressed simpler and in less than usual, no jacket or blouse…a camisole and dark pants. Korra thinks the woman looks gorgeous in everything and nothing and now is no exception. She watches as Asami comes over to her and sits down behind her, legs on the outside of her own. Curiously, she eyes the long length of twisted brown rope set down next to them and some funny looking textile scissors.

“Just in case,” Asami says softly.

Her girlfriend could just reach out and hold her like this, touch her like this in the fire and candlelight, let her touch back. She keeps thinking about turning around so that she can see Asami, until the woman ends such musings by deciding to talk again, this time starting their game. 

“I want you to kneel, Korra.” The voice is quiet and firm and resonates in her ear. She shifts her legs beneath her body, exhaling consciously.

That voice is a novel thing between them and belongs to these moments. It is a contradictory mix of gentle and commanding. Those two things, Korra did not know they could coexist until her girlfriend enlightened her. That tone though makes pure heat of her blood and she’s sure she’d do nearly anything Asami asks if it were requested in that particular voice. The internal acknowledgment brings both embarrassment at her own susceptibility and pride in her lover’s self-possession. Asami’s hands are warm when they meet her skin, and Korra does not expect what happens next. They’re kneading into her shoulders and neck, massaging and stretching them backward. The tension there went unnoticed, and she only feels it now as it dies beneath skillful thumbs. Korra finds her mind wandering again, imagining again…that she might be able to convince Asami to give her a real massage, with oil and both of them naked, and then the favor returned. She has to take a breath to focus and train her overly eager brain. 

“Close your eyes,” Asami says. The atmosphere and the presence her girlfriend has, they readily coax rare docility and her lids fall obediently.

It does help clear her head, one less sense, the darkness, and it calls to her attention that Asami is leaning into her more than necessary. The added weight feels good though, reassuring.

“Try to keep them closed for me.” Her girlfriend adds as an arm passes in front of her, above her chest, stretches her lower back briefly. 

She hears the rope then for the first time. It drags across the floor and she wonders if the fact that there’s no rug beneath them is deliberate. Korra is sure there was one the last time she was here. Knowing her girlfriend as she does, she would err on the side of assigning deliberateness to any choice made. And that sound, the ‘shh’ of the rope getting closer is definitely an experience, an anticipation builder.

Korra feels the loops of rope running over her thigh and her lover reaches around her. Asami’s arms press her own tight against her body while breasts push into her back, her girlfriend’s face hovering by her ear. Soft noises, a crackle from the fire, Asami’s steady breathing, the hissing slide of the rope in her girlfriend’s hands…they’re louder than they should be, echo in her head. Asami tosses the rest of the rope out beyond her feet. Her ability to airbend, she did not realize how it would factor into this, that because she is listening so intently, she feels the air move around the rope and Asami. The length of it flies past her knees and thuds against the floor. Her heart thuds too, and the swish of it blowing past leaves prickles on the hair of her arms. That poise in Asami’s every movement, it’s all over her skin too…is intensifying everything.

Korra is not sure she could truly describe how it feels to be around her lover in these moments. She’s never been able to, not even when that unnamable feeling was just hiding beneath kisses. It’s the most important component of this for her though. It’s like breathing a new kind of air. A heavier, headier mix that fills head and heart and lungs…something very nearly liquid.

Palms slide up Korra’s forearms, heels of them pushing into flesh, one holding the end of the rope. Her wrists are taken and pressed against each other. She doesn’t resist, is loose as Asami brings her hands up in front of her chest, holds them there. And her girlfriend’s body is suddenly further away, space and air between them. Korra is waiting again and she’s not sure why, but then Asami moves. It’s fast and alarmingly competent as the rope winds around her wrists, snaps as the knot cinches. She feels it as much as hears it, the whip of jute against itself. Her stomach drops at the suddenness, the sharp sound which carries an expectation of uncomfortable tightness, or pinching pain…but there is neither. It’s just secure, keeps the inside of her wrists firm and flush together. And in that second, what was conceptualization becomes experience. And she was wrong. This will be nothing like the tying they’ve done before, like being secured to a piece of furniture. There is still movement allowed in those cases...limited movement, but not this, not movement taken. The sensation is completely different. 

Asami’s arm folds around the front of her, holds her arms against her sides a second time. “Breathe.” It’s an elongated whisper with lips brushing her ear and she didn’t recognize that she wasn’t.

Asami breathes with her and pulls the rest of the rope length across Korra’s shoulder in a long lazy drag. The amount of sensory information coming in borders on overwhelming…how much she feels the slight disturbances in the air around them, the feel of the rope, the feel of Asami, the sounds from both. In her left ear the slide of rope, in her right ear her lover’s soft exhale, the skin of Asami’s arms which isn’t quite warm, and the texture of the rope which isn’t quite rough…she thinks of each in turn.

With much more deliberate, powerful movements, her girlfriend wraps the rope halfway around her and tosses the remaining length to the floor beside them. Each time the rope circles around to Korra’s front, Asami wraps around her back, holds her still against the force of the binding. The ‘shh’ of the rope in her lover’s hands and the dull thump of the coil hitting the ground, the swirling and settling of air…it’s a hypnotic rhythm that makes her insides churn. Everything Asami is doing feels calculated, like that quiet voice does, like falling.

It ends with her arms pinned firmly but not uncomfortably to her sides, her tied hands locked in the center of her chest and Asami knotting the rope at her back. Light pressure on her upper torso and arms, it's a squeeze that restrains but never cuts in. Korra’s heart is beating a little too fast and she feels heavy, muscles and mind both. She doesn’t know what this melting feeling is or how it is wrenched from her whenever they do these things. But Korra has never felt it before just from being tied, not without the addition of sexual touch to prompt it…

She trusts Asami though, more than she trusts herself half the time. And she likes slipping into the extreme side of that trust with this extreme side of her lover. It feels strangely instinctive, strangely right. Asami’s pulling at the length of rope where it hangs below the knot in the center of her back, keeps it taut. It’s a barely-there tug at her back. The arm around her moves and her girlfriend’s hand is trailing along her throat now, up to her jaw. Her eyes open as her head is tilted back by the chin.

“Asami,” The name gets buried in a gasp and Korra’s voice is uncharacteristically weak. She can’t quite understand why she says anything at all, some involuntary verbal spasm.

“Are you okay?” Asami questions softly, suddenly the loving girlfriend she knows. When it takes her a beat to answer, her head is immediately relaxed down into a more natural position, cheek cupped and head turned just enough to meet eyes. She swallows hard. “Korra, I need you to tell me if you’re okay.”

“Yeah…yeah, I’m good.” She manages, a tiny grin on her face because she doesn’t want her lover to end this, especially before they’re really in it. “Don’t stop.” More than anything else, she is caught out by the intensity. “Please.” She says, knowing the effect it will have, the accumulated power that word possesses when used between them.

Asami raises an eyebrow at the utterance and then they’re right back in it. After tilting Korra’s head back into a gentler extension, her lover draws away…puts space between them. Asami lays her forearm along Korra’s spine firmly, elbow over the knot and pressed with enough power that her back curls. She is easily pushed into perfect posture by that arm; chest out and shoulders back. Korra can feel the fingers of Asami's hand now hovering at the base of her neck. It shocks her completely when they tangle in her ponytail, when Asami uses that new grip to steadily exaggerate the extension of her neck. She has zero idea why having her hair pulled turns her on, but her girlfriend is using that knowledge to wonderful effect currently. It yanks a quiet groan from Korra before she can catch it and a throbbing pang of desire slams into her. She has to close her eyes again and her mind clouds, thoughts slowing.

She’s thrown when Asami kisses the side of her bared throat...thrown by the unexpectedly tender kiss while she's bound and held. And that throb is full-on ache now. Her feet curl in on themselves, toes wiggling helplessly. Her lover runs her free hand over Korra’s collarbones, a ghosting touch across her parted lips. Then Asami’s hand settles over her neck like a collar. She doesn’t think there’s a single inch of her skin that isn’t puckered into tiny goosebumps. They come in waves, called back each time they calm by heated kisses. Teeth on her pulse point, a soft scrape, and this weird little sound she is certain she’s never heard herself make before sneaks out. Every single loving touch of that mouth, without being able to move away or shift, it stokes a pulsing need in the pit of her stomach, one strong enough that she has to squeeze her thighs together. This feels…Korra doesn’t know what this feels like…like nothing else.

She is eased out of whatever warm blankness she just tumbled into, when Asami releases her hair…guides her head down carefully, kisses the back of her neck, and unties the knot. Unwrapping the loops around her torso, her girlfriend leaves her wrists bound. She’s breathing a little raggedly…and that was something she does not have words for. But she doesn’t have time to consider it deeply, not with Asami running fingers along the sensitive underside of her arms, nails scraping gently and leaving shivers in their wake. Back and forth a few times till Korra relaxes, gentle lips resting on her shoulder the entire time. 

Her elbows are then cupped, arms guided up and she starts to lift them on her own. As soon as she does, her lover switches to leading by the end of the rope where it still hangs from wrists. Asami places a hand on Korra’s back to steady her. Fists go up and over her head, coming to rest between her shoulder blades. This position is a little more rigid, but not anything she doesn’t feel okay with. She hears the susurrus pass of the rope across Asami’s palm again.

Her lover shifts to the side of her this time. Asami holds her wrists where they dangle and a bit of the rope is drawn straight down, stops at Korra’s midback. Reaching around, her girlfriend passes it under her ribs and she feels Asami adjusting it, tucking and feeding the rope through deftly. It’s something like an upside-down tee, which now lays dead center on her spine. She knows this pose from Asami’s sketches. The rest of the length flies around her twice more, with the same ‘shh’ and thud as her lover works. It runs, doubled above her breasts and then below, and she sucks in a breath. The sensation of constriction on her sensitive chest makes her shudder. She can’t stop herself from imagining what it would feel like without her wrap, with Asami’s hands playing there too, teasing her nipples taut…

A tiny jerk of the rope as she is tied off grabs her attention. It is the first time with her girlfriend, where she is not totally sure that escape is possible. Korra thinks she could probably get out of this, but only with bending and only if she really struggled, maybe only with the Avatar state given the limitations of her hands. And this is the most helpless she’s ever let Asami make her. It’s more of a turn-on than she thought to expect, than she finds reasonable. It is the most literal version of surrender they’ve tried and it tosses her instantly back into that odd mental space. Korra can tell her girlfriend is touching her on purpose, feeling for any signs of panic, but there are none to find. She doesn’t feel afraid, not with Asami here. What she feels instead is a sort of sinking that she willingly gives in to. She never gets to let go like this and it teeters on the edge of frightening how right it feels. To have that be the thing her lover most craves from her anyway, it’s a harmony that lulls Korra further into this.

Her girlfriend slips back behind her, drawing Korra against her body. She has little balance this way, but her lover catches her, stabilizes her, hands running agonizingly slow across her naked abdomen and ribs. They caress, rub, scratch lightly…driving her insane. She thinks she sighs Asami’s name but it might just be swimming in her mind, floating beside the feel of hands dancing along the side of her chest and stomach. Lips are following along the inside of her raised arms now and Korra’s eyelids flutter. The physical challenge of this position, the light strain she feels…she likes the contrast. 

And the way Asami’s hands and lips feel right now is almost worshipful. Not something she’s used to, not when she is just herself. And this kind of touch, insistent and reverent and no way to stop it, she thinks she’s a little in love with this. Asami’s fingertips and nails and palms, the rise and fall of her lover’s chest against her back, the stretch of being tied like this, those kisses…her body starts to tremble. Her girlfriend must think discomfort is the cause because she is guided upright thereafter.

Asami shifts again to sit in front of her this time, studying her. Her mind is haze and her face is a single blush, but she manages to return the gaze. They’re staring at each other and Asami’s seeking eyes are darker than usual, controlled fire, and Korra’s heart hammers. She resists the driving urge to tell her lover she can take more…waits and tries to be good.

Asami moves to a kneel, mirroring her, and their knees brush. Two of her girlfriend’s fingers slide beneath the rope above Korra’s chest. The back of a hand rests between her covered breasts. She watches as Asami tows her forward with inarguable firmness. It makes her breath catch and forces Korra to rise up on her thighs. Then Asami kisses her. She is not shocked that it’s the type of possessive kiss that ruins her.

“You’re so beautiful, Korra.” Her girlfriend says and cups her chin, easing the hold only enough to keep their mouths an inch apart. Hearing it from the most beautiful person she’s ever seen is still as shocking as it ever is. “And seeing you like this…” Asami pulls her forward again, gentle pressure on the rope and a hard kiss. Her girlfriend flicks her bottom lip with the tip of her tongue as they part. “Is incredibly hot.”

Korra is overcome by the desire to beg…for anything really, but instead of words, an embarrassing purr of a whimper emerges.

Then she is eased slowly back onto her heels with eyes tracing her body, hands running over her wherever they please. None of the obvious places are touched, none of the places that Korra’s need concentrates. Instead, fingertips glide along the uncovered portion of her chest teasingly. Her body is one giant shudder the whole time, unsteady breath after unsteady breath, her cheeks still burning red. She doesn’t close her eyes for any of it this time and watches as Asami touches her, watches Asami watch her, and drowns in eyes that reflect the firelight. 

With one last kiss, hands balanced on Korra’s knees and leaning forward, Asami starts the work of untying her. Her lover unwinds the rope, helps her bring her arms down, rubs them briefly, unties her wrists, and kisses the inside of each. Asami drags the rope over Korra’s skin one last time as she tosses it to the side. Her girlfriend takes her in slender, but strong arms and holds her. They always embrace after they do anything like this. It stops the sinking, pulls Korra up for air, and settles Asami back down into herself. Her girlfriend takes the tie from her hair and runs fingers soothingly along her scalp. They don’t say much to each other for a long time.

...and this was rope, Korra’s brain reiterates mindlessly…not _just_ rope. This was Asami and rope and they are definitely doing this again. She softly murmurs her lover’s name into smooth skin. Korra likes how it feels to say it quietly, how it fits right inside an exhale. Asami whispers words of love, of praise, of admiration…things that cut through the blur and bring a smile. It was a short taste of this, but intense enough that Korra understands a short taste was the smart way to go for their first time. She should’ve expected as much since it was her girlfriend’s resolute decision.

“Are you okay?” Asami asks her again, that face a pale canvas flickering with golds and oranges and browns painted by flame.

Korra might feel happy in her lover’s arms, but that does not dampen the arousal, which burns feverish in her veins. “Definitely, but can we debrief tomorrow?” She asks hopefully.

Asami gazes at her meaningfully. “Need some processing time?”

Despite her girlfriend’s lingering insecurities about them sharing these things, Korra never really needs processing time. Their debrief will morph into a planning session for the next instance, as it has every time before.

There are more pressing matters at hand though. “No, I need you to finish what you started.” She answers low and determined. 

Her girlfriend is smirking now, gazing down at her. The other version of Asami is gone for the night and there is no danger in the twist of lips or gentled eyes, only sweet seduction and a vulnerability previously absent. “So that means you didn’t hate it?”

Korra says something a little more suggestive than she is prone toward. “I’m pretty sure you know I didn’t, but you can see for yourself.” And then her nerve is lost. “If you want.”

“I do want.” Her girlfriend insists, knuckles brushing her cheekbone. “Tell me whenever you’re ready. We’ll head up-” And Korra is standing in an instant. “…stairs.”

And she is chased from the living room by the promise of pleasures to come and the sound of Asami’s soft laughter trailing close behind. 


End file.
